What Collaborating with an SLP Taught Me About Communication, Inclusion, and Teaching
- Charley Jo Vaughn
- May 18
- 4 min read
Today is Speech-Language Pathologist Appreciation Day, and I can't let it pass without recognizing the incredible impact SLPs have had on my life as an educator.
When I earned my master's degree at WKU, I had the opportunity to be part of Project PREP-- Preparing Rural Educators and Professionals for Students with High-Intensity Needs --a federally funded interdisciplinary grant program led by Dr. Christina Noel. The program intentionally brought together special education teachers and speech-language pathologists to learn alongside one another through coursework, field experiences, and collaboration. You can read more about Project PREP and the interdisciplinary work we completed together here.
That experience forever changed the way I approach teaching.
But I also want to acknowledge that I entered the program with a foundation that had already deeply shaped my understanding of communication and connection.
Before teaching, I worked alongside an individual who was nonspeaking. That experience shaped me long before I ever sat in a graduate program learning about AAC, communication, access, or interdisciplinary collaboration.
What impacted me most was that I had to learn him before I could truly support communication with him.
Communication did not look the way most people socially expect it to look. There were not always spoken responses, immediate reactions, or conventional exchanges. I learned to pay attention differently--to body language, routines, preferences, behaviors, pacing, trust, and connection. I learned that communication is often built through relationship and understanding long before words are ever exchanged.
At times, he would communicate through supported typing on an iPad or through writing on dry erase boards, but that was not an everyday communication method. The most important part was learning how to create safety, trust, and opportunities for expression in ways that honored his needs and autonomy.
That experience taught me to slow down as an educator.
To stop defining participation so narrowly.
To recognize that communication is so much bigger than speech.
Then, when I entered Project PREP at WKU and began collaborating closely with speech-language pathologists, I was able to strengthen that foundation even further. I learned more intentional strategies for supporting students with complex communication needs through AAC, visual supports, multiple opportunities to respond, and inclusive communication practices that could be embedded throughout the school day.
SLPs helped me think differently about participation.
Differently about behavior.
Differently about access.
I began to understand that communication supports are not "extras" in a classroom. They are access points. They are often the difference between a student simply being present in a classroom and a student being meaningfully included in it.
The best collaboration between teachers and SLPs happens when communication becomes everyone's responsibility. Not something that only happens during therapy sessions. Not something reserved for "speech time." But something intentionally embedded throughout the entire school day.
And honestly, some of the most inclusive classrooms I've ever seen were not necessarily the most expensive or the most highly resourced. They were the classrooms where adults intentionally collaborated to create opportunities for every students to access learning and participate in ways that worked for them.
3 simple Ways to Collaborate with SLPs for a More Inclusive Classroom
Build Multiple Opportunities to Respond Into Everyday Inclusion
Not every student processes information or expresses understanding verbally and immediately. Collaborating with SLPs can help educators expand what participation looks like in the classroom.
Opportunities to respond might include:
pointing
gesturing
selecting visuals
AAC devices
partner responses
movement-based responses
written responses
visuals or choice boards
yes/no systems
wait time for processing
Students should not have to rely solely on verbal speech to demonstrate engagement or understanding.
When teachers and SLPs work together to plan accessible opportunities, more students can actively engage in learning instead of simply observing it.
Use Visual Supports Across the Entire Classroom -- Not Just for Individual Students
One of the biggest lessons I learned from SLP collaboration was that visual supports benefit far more students than we often realize.
Visual schedules, first/then boards, modeled expectations, choice boards, sentence starters, classroom icons, and visual directions increase predictability and comprehension for many learners -- especially students with communication, language, processing, or executive functioning needs.
The most effective visual supports are not hidden away as "special accommodations." They are naturally embedded into the classroom environment so all students can access them when needed.
Inclusive supports help everyone.
If you are looking for a simple place to start, I created a free First/Then board that educators and families can use to support routines, transitions, and communication access.
Prioritize Communication Access Over Compliance
Sometimes educators unintentionally focus so heavily on compliance that we miss communication attempts altogether.
SLPs helped me become more aware of this in my own practice.
Behaviors often communicate needs before words do. Avoidance, dysregulation, silence, scripting, movement, and shutdowns can all communicate something important about access, overwhelm, processing, or support needs.
Collaboration with SLPs can help teams shift from asking:
How did we get this student to comply?
to asking:
How do we make communication and participation more accessible?
That shift changes everything.
Why This Matters So Much to Me
As I reflect on the experiences that shaped the vision behind Spesh and the #BEspesh movement, collaboration with SLPs is absolutely part of that story.
The way I think about accessibility, visual supports, communication opportunities, inclusion, and student voice was deeply influenced by those relationships and experiences.
Project PREP reinforced something I now carry into every part of my work:
Every individual deserves opportunities to communicate, connect, participate, and be understood.
And sometimes the most powerful thing we can do as educators is create environments where those opportunities are intentionally built into everyday learning.
To every speech-language pathologist advocating for communication access, collaborating with educators, supporting families, and helping individuals find their voice in whatever form it takes -- thank you.
Your work changes lives every single day.
So Very Spesh
IEPs • Inclusion • Real classroom practice
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